


Five Times Rachel Looked at Luce

by brinshannara



Category: Imagine Me & You (2005)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 13:44:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11875761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brinshannara/pseuds/brinshannara
Summary: Five ficlets from Rachel's point of view, spread throughout the movie, originally written years ago. I had just wanted to poke around in Rachel's brain a bit.





	Five Times Rachel Looked at Luce

**_The Wedding_**

The organ was loud, but Rachel barely heard any of it. She was focused on taking deliberate, careful steps down the aisle of the church. She was careful to smile for the photographer and made eye contact with some of her guests in the pews to her left, on her side of the chapel.

Her bridesmaids fell in behind her and her father, slowly walking down the aisle towards Heck and Coop.

Heck. He was smiling at her, the smile that she knew meant he was anxious and happy all at once. She smiled back at the man she loved. She steadied herself as she walked slowly towards him, knowing that today was the beginning of a new, shared life for the both of them.

As she walked, something to her left caught her eye. Rachel turned her head towards the far-left aisle of the church, beyond the pews that held her friends and family.

And then she saw her. A stranger stood, watching Rachel and her father as they approached the altar. She had red hair and was staring at Rachel in a most peculiar fashion. Rachel's smile drooped and finally vanished as she met the woman's gaze and she slowed her walk, nearly missing her next step. When their eyes met for even that fleeting an instant, Rachel's already-aggravated stomach performed a somersault.

_Who is **that?**_ she wondered to herself. Realizing this was not the time or place to wonder about some strange woman, she turned back to face her groom and took another step. But something compelled her to look back.

The stranger, however, had gone.

At then, she was at the altar.

**_The School_**

It was a surprise. Yes, Rachel was definitely, emphatically surprised when she saw Luce at H's school. It wasn't an unpleasant surprise, mind you. It was, in fact, the complete opposite of unpleasant. It was totally unlike the awkward meeting or meetings, rather, in the grocery store. It was wonderful to see her. And yet, all Rachel could do was stare at her.

H's teacher informed them that her sister was ready for them, so they, Rachel, Rachel's parents and Luce, shuffled into the classroom, which was already crowded. Rachel and Luce ended up sitting together on a tabletop, next to one another.

Rachel swallowed as she felt her stomach flip over when she realized that she and Luce were practically touching due to the cramped quarters. She could feel the heat radiating from Luce's left shoulder and arm. And her leg.

Rachel crossed her right leg over her left, trying desperately to pull away from Luce's presence as much as she could. She wasn't sure why, but she was more than a little nervous and this anxiety only ever happened in Luce's presence.

She was vaguely aware that her little sister was giving her presentation about space, but in this darkened classroom, all she could think about was the woman to her right and wonder if she was thinking about her, too.

It was when she felt a slight shift on Luce's part that she realized the redhead was looking at her, just for a moment. Then she felt Luce move again as she put her hand down on the table. Without even being conscious of it, Rachel mirrored her action. Their hands were on the table between them, arms just barely touching, fingers curling around the table's edge, the sides of their hands just grazing one another. It was electric, just being this close to Luce. Every cell in Rachel's body was screaming at her to do something, but she wasn't quite sure what. She knew that whatever it was that caused this reaction in her was strong. She'd never quite felt like this before. And Rachel could swear her mouth had never been drier.

She turned her head to gaze at Luce. The way her hair fell, framing her face. The strong line of her jaw. The slight hook of her nose.

In her mind's eye, she saw herself throwing caution to the wind, she saw herself reaching out and brushing Luce's hair off her face, behind her ear, which would cause Luce to turn and face her. She could almost feel herself stroking Luce's face gently with her fingertips, almost see how Luce's eyes hungrily gazed at her own lips.

And then the lights came back on and Rachel snapped her attention back to H.

But she knew, after that moment, that she was feeling something she definitely should not be feeling.

**_The Street_**

"The lily means," she started hesistantly, "the lily means, _I dare you to love me._ " With that, Luce turned and walked across the street.

Rachel paused to absorb the information, then caught up to the other woman. Luce was, could it be that Luce was blushing? They shared a couple of awkward looks and then Luce began speaking.

"Well, thanks," she said, "for this evening."

"Thank _you_ ," Rachel replied.

"It was my birthday," Luce admitted, almost embarassed.

"No, today?" she exclaimed. "You should have said!" She smiled. "It's mine, coming up."

"Practically twins," teased Luce, as they arrived at the gate to Rachel's flat.

"This is me," Rachel said, her tone tinged with regret.

They stood there, together, facing one another. They could have been standing there for hours for all Rachel knew. Their eyes met and Rachel completely lost herself in the gaze. Then, without really understanding what was going on, she found herself dropping her look to examine Luce's lips. They appeared so soft, so inviting, so beautiful that Rachel found herself taking a step forward, then another. She titled her head to the right and leaned in and just when she felt Luce's breath on her lips, she stopped. She pulled herself back, looked longingly at Luce's lips once more, then took two steps away, panicked.

"Okay," she managed to get out, "goodnight."

"Yeah," breathed Luce. "Night." Then she turned and walked away, leaving Rachel to her thoughts. And to Heck.

**_Flowered Up_**

"Okay, so do you see? You see- you have to see. I ca-- I can't do this, I can't actually do this. So whatever it is or was, it's got to stop and it's got to stop now. D'you understand? It's over."

And with one last look, Rachel pushed past Luce and walked out into the front of the store, absolutely certain that she'd done what she'd gone there to do, determined to go back to Heck and live out their lives together the way they'd intended to, before she'd ever even met Luce.

Luce. Who had looked at her with such hurt and confusion written plainly across her face, with her brow furrowed, her eyes shining with tears.

_Luce._

She crumbled.

Just as suddenly as she'd stormed out, Rachel found herself storming right back into the storeroom. She barely even glanced at Luce as she reached out, grabbed the other woman's coat and drew her near. Their lips met and it felt like she was on fire, like they were on fire, both of them, together, burning up. And something inside her just felt _right_ , for the first time in her life. At last.

She pushed Luce down on to something, she wasn't sure what, and didn't particularly care. But, as she gazed at the other woman, bathed in sunlight streaming in from the window, what she did take note of was the adoration filling Luce's sparkling green eyes. There was love there, actual love. And lust. Hunger. Passion. But above all, love.

Rachel smiled to herself and closed her eyes, pressing her lips against Luce's once more, content to live in this little patch of heaven, for as long as she possibly could. Her entire world consisted solely of the woman in her arms, and she knew that Luce loved her, just as much as she loved Luce.

**_The Park_ **

"Rachel! Rachel, wait!" she heard Luce call from somewhere behind her.

"Luce, PLEASE," she begged. She didn't trust herself to turn around. She couldn't, couldn't face her. Not after what she'd heard. The guilt was going to kill her.

"Just TALK to me," she implored.

"What do you want me to say?" she shot back. "I HEARD him!" she shouted, still walking away, still refusing to look at her. "Jesus! I'm lying there and I HEARD him and he's blaming himself!" 

"You could put an end to this," Luce insisted.

Rachel stopped and turned around to face her, finally. "HOW?" she spat, fully expecting Luce to tell her to leave Heck.

"Tell me to go," she said, simply.

Rachel blinked. Do what she had initially intended to do today and Luce would go. Temptation gone, she could return to some sense of normalcy with Heck. It's what she wanted, wasn't it?

She looked at Luce, long and hard, trying to determine how serious the other woman was.

"Tell me that's what you want and I will walk away and you will never see me again," Luce pressed.

Rachel kept looking at her, studying the other woman's eyes. She would walk away? From this? With just a word from her? Did she really mean so little to Luce that she would throw it away? She was aware of the hypocrisy in feeling hurt that Luce would abide by her decision, but she couldn't help it. She had been certain beyond words that Luce felt for her what she, Rachel, was feeling.

"Is that what you want?" she asked quietly. 

Luce paused and Rachel was now all but sure that Luce was going to leave, give this up, without a second thought.

"I want you," she finally answered, the words coated in warmth. The pain on her face as she answered was plain as day, mirroring what Rachel herself was feeling.

And she almost relented. She almost gave in again to that warmth and security, the overwhelming rightness of it all.

"Luce," she whispered, shaking her head, trying not to cry.

Luce looked down, nodding. "I know," she said.

"I can't," Rachel finally managed to say. 

"I know," Luce repeated before daring to look up at Rachel again. She took a breath, bracing herself. "We'll be okay," she said. She paused, then pulled Rachel into a hug and kissed her cheek softly. "Don't forget me," she said, holding on to the other woman.

"I won't remember anything else," Rachel whispered.

When Luce let go of her and turned around to leave, Rachel allowed herself a precious few seconds to watch the woman she loved walk briskly down the park path, away from her. She would remember everything, she silently promised. Everything.


End file.
